


Just Chemicals

by bravelove



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: A/B/O, Fluff, Gen, Omegaverse, So that new Lindsay Ellis video huh?, Suppressors, and for that id like to say, but nothing actually happens hes just anxious, is it still trans characters when its a secondary gender?, its a bit ship teasy but its actually pretty gen, just starts fucking bolting, no actual smut happens dont worry, parvis carries around like ten knives in a bag why does he do that, strife has a few thoughts of possible bad things happening to parvis, strife is worried but pretends he's not, you may be asking yourself if this is trans projecting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26278828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bravelove/pseuds/bravelove
Summary: Strife's an alpha, Parvis is an omega, should be obvious, but not everything is as they seem, not everyone is exactly who they say they are.
Relationships: Alex Parvis & William Strife
Kudos: 3





	Just Chemicals

Upon the dark of the night, Parvis slept collapsed on the beds in his castle, and Strife wondered about what he had said earlier, about his disregard for that second gender system. He wondered how an omega could be so careless, so uncaring. Strife knew the lanky bastard was aware he was an alpha, and he was! At least on paper, he was just an abnormally small alpha, nothing more. As he stared at the sleeping Parvis, he couldn’t help but wonder if the reason the omega seemed so at ease with his presence is that he had picked up the more artificial nature of Strife’s alpha nature. Perhaps some subconscious chemical he hadn’t accounted for that made Parvis think he was no threat? The thought twisted uncomfortably in his belly; it was true he never spent so long around anyone before just at the small risk, but such a thing would have already been located and eradicated already. Still, the sheer chance Parvis could start spreading some rumors was definitely anxiety churning. 

Rubbing his face, he needed to figure out a way to get Parvis extra assured of his alpha nature, even if it would make the boy pull away, it was just safer that way. Clicking his tongue, he thought for a bit. Perhaps he could figure out what brand of supplement Parvis used? Buy him some more, in a passive-aggressive assertion that he needs to take it to be safe around him? Tell him some stories about unfortunate things happening to omega’s conveniently forgetting Parvis is an omega? He shook his head. No, the second would just be cruel and traumatizing. He wanted both of them safe, not Parvis traumatized and pissed. The first option would be a good starting point for future plans at asserting his alpha nature subtly and for Parvis to be more careful.

With the plan made, Strife made a beeline for the bathroom, determined to rummage around for wherever Parvis kept his supplements. A selfish part of him wanted him to be using the most popular brand of Strife Solution supplements. Still, Strife knew his supplements could be on the pricy side, thanks to their thoroughness. Parvis seemed like the type to pick up common drug store supplements and then take them past the expiration date. The thought made Strife scowl; if that turned out to be true, there would be strong words between the two. He would not have his apprentice taking risks like that. He wouldn’t know what he’d do if some more uncouth alpha takes advantage of Parvis making a dumb choice. For a split second in his mind, he could see it, Parvis, panting on the studio’s wall, begging, as his stupid bandmates swooped in on him without a careful touch. He felt his fists clenched, absolutely not, that kind of behavior would not be allowed, and that was the good outcome! The sheer thought of a stranger finding Parvis whining on the floor of a mine if Parvis was unfortunate to be alone, it made red flash in his vision. 

It was customary to care so much about his apprenticed slept with Strife assured himself as he opened the medicine cabinet and started to root around, after all, if Parvis got pregnant, he’d have to help him, and that sounded disgusting. Sure, Strife was an alpha, and Parvis was an omega, but that meant nothing. It was pure business. Sure perhaps he had gotten a bit attached to Parvis and his doe eyes, but they were just partners of the business variety. His sudden spike of concern for the boy’s supplement supply was nothing more than business. 

Pulling away from the medicine cabinet, Strife frowned. Not a single supplement container in sight! Only things like pain medications and bandages laid inside the barren cupboard. Breathing out heavily, he shoved down the urge to shake Parvis awake to tell him how disappointed in him he was, no need to have Parvis asking questions. Taking deep breaths, Strife forced down a growl in his throat as he forced himself to think logically, and not with the innate instinct to protect an omega. Just because there were none in the cabinet doesn’t mean Parvis had none. Perhaps he just kept it on his person? If that was true while still stupid to not have extra in the cabinet, at least it made some sort of sense.

Affirmed in his thoughts, Strife silently walked back to the bedroom. As he saw Parvis shift in his sleep, he allowed himself a small smile. He had gotten so caught up in his thoughts of horrible people doing horrible things to him, it was actually a bit of a relief to see him sleeping there, unchanged. Normally he would never have let a smile grace his face at such a small thing, but he was the only one awake. He could spare himself some frivolity as he took in Parvis scent. It was a rather blood-tinged scent these days, and while at first, it raised his hackles, always expecting to spot some enemy injury on Parvis, he had grown used to the faint tinge, and it instead brought relief. Strife noted how weak the pheromone smell had gotten as he slept, but he still felt that slight tug to protect him, a pull that Parvis oh so often abused. The world was lucky Parvis was born with a less than average pheromone production, or he could have taken over the world with it.

Feeling more soothed, Strife set upon his goal once more as he opened up Parvis bag. A part of him noted he had gone past plausible deniability of what he was doing, but Strife shoved that aside as he shoved his hand in. It was no longer just about Parvis finding him out. It was about making sure his apprentice was safe! He swore under his breath as his finger nicked a knife. Of course, he had spare knives in here; why had he expected anything less. Actually peering into the bag beyond just sticking his hand back in, he carefully started to remove the knives. After a few minutes, there was a small pile of blades on the floor, but the bag was now sharp thing clear. As he stared at the pile for a few seconds, he wondered why Parvis needed ten whole knives on his person at all times. It just seemed excessive.

Fingers saved from future knicks, Strife delved into the bag. He searched for a pill bottle as he shoved aside guitar picks and handkerchiefs. It took him a minute or two, but soon his hand closed around what felt like a pill bottle, hidden away under some half-eaten granola bars. He removed his prize and checked the label, feeling a stab of vindication at discovering what Parvis had hidden. Reading the medication name on the bottle, though, Strife’s nose wrinkled in confusion. He had never heard of this brand in his life. Rolling the bottle around in his hands, careful not to let it make noise, the entire bottle seemed a bit strange.

First of all, was the main label, while it listed a name of a medication known as Proxmega, that didn’t sound like a name of a medication to Strife, more like what someone would guess the name of some medicine was. The label was sparse of the usual trimmings one would expect on pill bottles, sure it mentioned it contained 50 pills, but there was nothing about if it was prescriptive or how much was in each tablet. It didn’t even specifically say it was for heat. It just proudly displayed the word omega under it. Flipping the bottle around to look at instructions or a list of ingredients, all he found was an instruction to take once a week, twice if you want a stronger effect. Sure it had what looked like an ingredients list and all the usual things one would see on a pill bottle, however taking a closer look, it just read like gibberish. Just what the hell was Parvis taking?? He took out his phone to scan the barcode on it, but it only came up with an error, this indeed was absolutely not FDA approved.

Exiting out of the barcode scanning app, he googled the name. Gritting his teeth as not a lot came up, Strifes concern only grew as what he could find were mentions of it as a new rare street drug. Fear paralyzed him as his eyes shifted the bottle; just what the hell was Parvis taking? Was he truly so cut off from society he resorted to street medications for his heats? Did he not have the money? Was he caught in some bigger scheme? Was he addicted? He shivered as he could just imagine Parvis batting his eyes and preening over some cruel supplier for a fix because he couldn’t afford actual ones? The fact Parvis had never had a nonsuppressed heat around him was a miracle! For all Parvis could know, these pills were just baking soda and sugar! 

Gently opening the bottle and taking out a pill, Strife examined it with a critical eye. It was pure white, about the size of a fingernail. It didn’t feel chalky or like it would fall apart, which he supposed was a good sign. It seemed relatively dry as if it was sucking up the moisture from where he pinched it between his fingers. Typical heat suppressors didn’t look or act like this. He had designed the one he had on the market personally after all he would know. They tended to be capsules and a bit on the sticky side. There was definitely something wrong with these pills, and this proved it as he felt his temper flare.

Unable to stop a growl in anger, his fingers clenched around the bottle while he crushed the pill between his fingers. Why didn’t Parvis tell him! Did Parvis not trust him with information like this? Sure he’s a heartless businessman, but heat is something entirely aside from that, sure he would have rolled his eyes, but he would have absolutely have helped him! He knew just how horrible a heat could be, and he was no sadist of that degree! Anger grew in his stomach at the thought of how  _ his _ apprentice had wound up here, taking likely faulty pills, unable or just unwilling to ask for some help. No one had a right to do that to Parvis! His!

Blinking, Strife pinched his wrist to bring him back from that edge, what the absolute hell had just gone over him! He wasn’t Parvis’ Alpha; he couldn’t think things like that! Parvis was his apprentice, yes, but not his mate! Some protectiveness was expected, but that was on a whole other level. Taking a whiff of the air, he recoiled as he suddenly got a more potent dose of pheromone wafted into his nose. For a moment, he feared Parvis was going into heat right his moment, but he paused, the pheromone was a bit different then what he was used to. Snuffling a bit to try and figure out what bugged him, it hit him, there was no blood tint! He glanced over to Parvis, who still seemed to rest quietly, no longer even shifting in his sleep, he wasn’t in heat,

Now confused as to where the scent was coming from, he sniffed more, before finally, his nose settled on the powder that was on his fingers from the crushed pill. The pill was, creating a pheromone scent? He stuck his nose inside the bottle and sniffed, recoiling away and nearly dropping the bottle as he felt like he was holding an omega utterly dripping in pheromone. Shaking his head rapidly, the clear out the scent as he quickly screwed the lid back on. Strife was beseeched by questions he didn’t have answers to. For once in his life, he felt well and truly puzzled.

His eyes darted up again to Parvis before he quickly looked away from him. Rubbing his nose to try and get the scent out, Strife could feel himself get close to drooling as if he was some low brow alpha with no control over himself. A desire to protect and claim was shoved down as he kept pinching himself. He needed to calm himself to think, and he would not be able to do that as long as his instincts had him getting hard at fake pheromones and gave him desires to plunder the omega in front of him. 

Rubbing his face, he realized he had no choice but to do the horrifying and headache-inducing task of actually confronting Parvis over this. If it was just a basic brand, he could have left well enough alone, but this?? If this got out that  _ the  _ William Strife let an omega walk around with these kinds of horrible pills, the scandal would be immense! He could see the headlines now, accusing him of sabotaging his Omega apprentice to take advantage of his next heat. Even as untrue as that would be, it would be a tantalizing headline. He would need to immediately fix this problem and get Parvis on actual pills, like the ones he makes. It was once again time to save Parvis from himself.

Strife flinched, as a sudden bouncy voice broke the silence of the night, freezing his blood. “Striiife, are you going through my stuff? I smell some blood. Did you stick a hand in my bag?” Parvis’ voice asked, ringing in his ears like the most grating song and yet angelic choir. Strife couldn’t help but mentally curse at his instincts for making him feel drawn to the voice. It was just Parvis. He needed to calm down.

Head jerking up, Strife’s eyes met with Parvis’s familiar trademark grin practically glowing in the darkroom. Steadying himself, Strife cleared his throat and spoke with my confidence, then he felt. “I noticed you didn’t have any spare supplements in the bathroom, I was worried you may have run out so I was double-checking to make sure.” He sniffed the air again, just to reassure himself that the pheromones he was smelling wasn’t actually an omega in heat like the pills would want him to believe. It was just Parvis.

Practically feeling the dramatic pout that now laid upon Parvis’ face, Strife forced himself to stay steady and keep talking. “I am concerned though about what I did find though, street suppressors Parvis? You can do better than that, you  _ deserve _ better than that, you should have told me.”

With a dramatic sigh, Parvis suddenly swung his legs off the bed while he turned back on the lights and grabbed for the bottle. Strife fumbled it at the sudden movements, and soon, Parvis once again had them in his grasp. With a pout, Parvis wagged his fingers.” Don’t you know it’s rude to go sniffing around someone’s medication! You’re gonna ruin it! No one’s supposed to know about these!”

Strife opened his mouth to argue that clearly Parvis was being tricked, but before he could speak it, he paused. Something about this was wrong. He was so focused on them being suppressants, he had eliminated any other possibilities. Something about this felt familiar, and why would suppressors give off such a pheromone copying smell? Suddenly a potential answer hit him, a very familiar answer.

“Parvis, you weren’t born an omega, were you?” As the words left Strife’s mouth, Parvis seemed to jerk back in shock, eyes wide. It occurred to Strife no matter how upset he ever saw Parvis, he never smelt his pheromone level change, he should smell at least a slight increase from that reaction, but there was nothing changing. It all made sense, Parvis’ lack of care about Strife being an alpha, not having suppressors, the lack of ever seeing Parvis nesting, he wasn’t born an omega.

Not waiting for a response as the pieces clicked together, Strife spoke once again, “You’re a beta, aren’t you?”

Parvis seemed to deflate at that, a guilty look flashing on his face before Parvis straightened out. “You have no idea what you’re talking about Strife! I am definitely an omega!”

Memories of his own past flashed within Strife’s mind, but he shook them away; he understood what was going on now, he could help, he just needed to be gentle. “Parvis, just because you were born a beta, doesn’t mean you are a beta, help me help you, Parvis.”

Parvis threw his hands in the air, suddenly starting to whine. ‘It’s complicated, Strifey! Complicated! You wouldn’t get it, you weren’t a beta, it’s not that I am an omega, it’s hard to explain! 

“Then explain it,” Strife gently prodded, not making any sudden movements.

Tugging at his hair, Parvis continued to speak, “The whole system is stupid! It’s just a bunch of pheromones and stuff, if I like the attention being an omega gives me and if it makes people underestimate me why shouldn’t I be one! Sure sometimes I just want to be normal beta Parvis with no weird instincts or smells, and maybe even occasionally presenting as an alpha would be cool, to watch people swoon over you! It’s just chemicals anyway! Why can’t I just pick and choose on a whim! Why can’t I be all of them or none of them!”

Blinking at the sudden outpour of information, Strife felt sympathy. He understood that feeling of it just being chemicals all too well. Gently he reached over to Parvis, who took a step back, and he unthreaded his hands from his hair, soothingly rubbing circles on the back of his hands. “Parvis, calm down you’re going to hurt yourself. I understand, you feel like you’re all of them at once and none of them at once don’t you?”

Suddenly stricken silent, Parvis nodded, and Strife could feel a faint hint of tears on his eyelashes, so Strife continued. “And that’s okay! You don’t have to choose, I can help you! If you wanna be an omega for a week, okay! If you wanna be an alpha the next! You can do that as well!”

Suddenly Strife felt like something was caught in his throat. He had to tell his secret to assure Parvis, but he had never told anyone this. With a shuddering breath, though, he forced the words out for Parvis’s sake. “I, I wasn’t born an alpha, I get what it’s like to feel like your body is producing the wrong scents, the wrong feelings. I get it, I can make you the same supply I take to fix that, I can reverse engineer an omega version as well! You can pick and choose Parvis, I can help you! Let me help you!”

Strife saw Parvis’ eyes go wide, and time seemed to freeze for a split second, for a small moment Strife feared rejection, that Parvis would scream it to the hills, but instead, Parvis just burst out crying and pulled Strife closer to hug him tight, Strife rubbed the back of his apprentice’s back and ignored the tears stinging his own eyes at Parvis’ acceptance. Eventually, the two settled down. As Strife began rambling about the process and the medications, suddenly, Parvis put a finger to Strife’s mouth, shushing him, popped one of the pills, and pulled Strife into bed with him. Clinging tightly to Strife’s surprised frame.

Squawking and feeling flustered from a sudden increase of pheromone from Parvis, he pulled away a bit, stammering to Parvis giggles. “Strifey. if your miracle temporary DNA change injection things work, then this might be the last time for a month or so you get to smell my amazing pheromones! Come enjoy and cuddle me!”

With a sigh, Strife allowed Parvis to burrow his face into him, rolling his eyes a bit at the blissful sigh from the apprentice as his own pheromones entering into Parvis’ nose. He couldn’t bring himself to pull away, though, not with how vulnerable he was sure Parvis was underneath the nonchalance and his clinginess. He felt he understood his apprentice a lot more after tonight; he didn’t even realize there were others like him even if Parvis was clearly something else. They’d definitely be having a long talk in the morning, but it was late, and Parvis smelt nice. It could wait.

So he just wrapped his arms around him, holding Parvis close as they drifted off. Perhaps they were both weird to such a black and white world with how they blurred those lines, but that didn’t matter, not while such a scent and feeling of safety came from both of them. Who cared what the world may think. Perhaps Strife wasn’t Parvis bounded Alpha, and maybe Parvis wasn’t some dutiful Omega. Still, they knew chemicals were just chemicals, and that they were gonna make those chemicals their bitch, society be damned. 


End file.
